Egypt Isn’t Starving Gaza – Israel Is
Debunking the latest lie from pro-Israel propagandists: Egypt could open its border crossing with Gaza anytime and end the Israeli-created famine in the Strip. Here's the truth.
As the world watched in horror the mounting images of starving children and skeletal bodies from Gaza, Israel allowed a rare demonstration late last month against that starvation – in front of the Egyptian embassy in Tel-Aviv. Protesters’ signs blamed Cairo for the famine without mentioning Israel. This awkward display, in contrast to how Israeli authorities routinely assault and detain protesters against the genocide, reveals the cruel and calculated narrative that is taking root, one that shifts the blame away from the true architect of this manufactured catastrophe in Gaza.
The talking point du jour for Israel’s hasbara crew has now become blaming the Gaza famine (while simultaneously denying a famine is happening) on Egypt’s “closure of the Rafah crossing.” Israel’s key apologists, like Eylon Levy, Eyal Yakoby, and John Spencer, have been berating Cairo almost daily for Israel’s siege on the enclave. “I just learned something absolutely crazy about Gaza, it turns out it has a border with Egypt… Egypt closed its border crossing with Gaza,” Eylon Levy, Benjamin Netanyahu’s former spokesperson, falsely claimed earlier this week.
This deflection is so bizarre that Israel’s own Barak Ravid called out its propagators and emphasized the obvious: that Israel controls all of Gaza’s borders, including the Philadelphi corridor with Egypt. “Nothing and nobody can come in from Egypt without Israeli permission,” Ravid, a reporter for Axios, posted on social media.
Israel’s overriding control of Gaza’s southern borders with Egypt was the norm long before the Israeli military invaded Rafah and completely destroyed the crossing. It even precedes Oct. 7, 2023, by decades.
But let’s start with what Rafah looks like today.